


ties that bind

by Noa



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Canon Compliant, Cute, F/F, Pre-Relationship, Requested fic, Shopping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-14
Updated: 2016-07-14
Packaged: 2018-07-24 01:08:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7487445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Noa/pseuds/Noa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Actually, a hangman’s knot would be a lot easier to undo.” Beruka comments. Selena rolls her eyes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	ties that bind

Selena turns around to check herself in the mirror for the third time. The shirt she picked is perfect and she knows it, but Beruka is taking forever trying on the one she chose for her and Selena is getting impatient. Eyeing the curtain Beruka’s changing behind, Selena breathes out an especially heavy sigh.

“What’s taking so long?”

“I don’t think I have it on right,” comes Beruka’s timid response.

“Ugh, I’m coming in okay?” she announces, though she still waits for Beruka to mumble “alright” before she actually slips inside the fitting room with her. It’s a small back section of the store, protected from onlookers with two heavy curtains, and behind those curtains hangs a tall mirror with several small cracks on its smudged surface. Not the classiest boutique Selena has ever seen, but in times of war you have to take what you can get and they _did_ have some very cute items.

Beruka was currently wearing one of those cute items- or rather, she’s attempting to. Her off-white button-up blouse has a black ribbon laced under its rounded collar, but it looks like Beruka tied it in the back rather than the front. The buttons were also off by one, skewing her collar. Selena frowned. How does Beruka even get dressed every morning?

“You missed one,” she says, pointing at the bottom of Beruka’s shirt, where one button is left without a buttonhole to match. Beruka looks down, eyes unreadable as always.

“Oh,” she says. Then she begins undoing the buttons, right in front of Selena.

“I-I’ll fix your bow!” Selena says quickly. She hopes her furious blush escapes Beruka’s attention as she takes her by the shoulders and spins her around. Beruka hums, doesn’t even look up at Selena's embarrassed stutter.

Selena looks at the ribbon tied at Beruka’s neck, and tugs on it a little. It’s pretty much cemented into its knot- there’s no way this will come loose without some serious effort.

“What kind of knot did you use? Geez, it’s like you were trying to tie a noose or something…” she complains, her fingers already working the tight knot open.

“Actually, a hangman’s knot would be a lot easier to undo,” Beruka comments. Selena rolls her eyes.

“Oh wait, your necklace got caught in it,” Selena notices. She carefully brushes at Beruka’s hair (even though it isn’t really in the way) and pulls the delicate silver chain free from the silken ribbon. Her hands pause. “Uh. Since when do you wear a necklace?”

Beruka wasn’t really one to wear accessories. She felt they got in the way and she cared little for appearance- a pair of earrings wasn’t going to make any of her missions easier. The one exception to this rule that Selena knew of was Beruka’s ring. One of a matching set of three that they purchased together a long time ago, to symbolize the bond between them as well as their liege. Selena has yet to take hers off and for some reason, ever since she began wearing that ring she lost interest in all other accessories. Her standards had become too high, no trinket would ever be up to par with the ruby ring that meant so much to her. (Nothing could replace the feeling that bubbled up behind her ribs whenever she saw Beruka wear the blue aventurine counterpart to it, either.)

Maybe that’s why Selena feels a pang of bitterness when she pulls the necklace free. Her fingers follow the chain forward to Beruka’s throat so the pendant comes up from behind her shirt. Beruka immediately reaches up to grasp it, hooking her index finger through while stroking at it with her thumb, and Selena realizes that it isn’t just any pendant- it’s a ring. It’s _their_ ring. Selena jerks her hands back like she touched fire.

“Sorry,” Beruka says quietly. “I did try to use it as intended, but I couldn’t grip my weapons properly and constantly worried about damaging it.”

Selena sniffles, prompting Beruka to spin around. She looks worried, and it only makes Selena's eyes sting more. She knows Beruka cares, she  _should_ know, after all they've been through and all the fights they've yet to win but somehow, being confronted with Beruka's care like this turns Selena inside out with feelings she can't really handle yet.

“Selena?”

Selena waves her hand as casually as she can manage, pushing down whatever it is that’s threatening to spill out through her tear ducts. Stupid emotions.

“Allergies,” she lies, and from the look on Beruka’s face Selena knows that _she_ knows, but she accepts the excuse anyway and Selena’s relief couldn’t have been greater.

“Here, I’ll tie this,” she says, reaching up for the ribbon. It’s silent between them as Selena ties a loose bow into the black silk. She can feel the warmth of Beruka’s skin tingling in her fingertips, she can hear her calm breathing and she envies her, always envies her because while Beruka stays calm Selena’s heart jumps and spins till the second she takes her hands off of that ribbon.

Satisfied with her handiwork, she takes a small step back (as small as the cramped fitting space allows) and nods before she points Beruka towards the mirror. “There. Now it’s perfect.”

Beruka frowns at her reflection, at the bow hanging from her collar and the way her necklace drapes over the silk. She takes the silver chain between her fingers and drops it back behind her shirt.

“…You don’t like how it looks?” Selena asks, sounding far more fragile than she’d like.

“It will tangle with the ribbon,” Beruka says, and then in a softer voice. “And I prefer wearing it close to my heart.”

Selena stands frozen for just a second. Then she starts talking, fast, showering Beruka in compliments like she intended to do from the start, reassures her that the shirt is _perfect_ for her and why wouldn’t it be, she picked it out herself and her taste is _impeccable_ , and Beruka lets her ramble until she runs out of steam and excuses herself from the fitting room after almost tripping through the curtains. Moments later she shuffles back inside because she's still wearing the shirt that _she_ tried on and there’s no way the store owner is going to let her leave like that. Selena demands that Beruka turns around when she changes and Beruka smiles to herself as she spins on her heel.

Beruka decides to purchase the shirt. Not for its comfortable fit nor its cute ribbon, but to make sure she’ll never forget, and slowly but surely she builds a wardrobe not of clothes and accessories, but of memories and love.

_-fin_

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't been feeling too jazzy recently- I do hope you'll like this regardless! These two make an adorable couple and it was fun to try and portray their characters without diving in too deep.
> 
> (Later on in their relationship, Selena and Beruka exchange their respective rings to symbolize what both of them have trouble saying out loud.)


End file.
